Thoughts on football, books, and life in general

Mental

Both Birmingham City and Wolves have lost their last three League games and desperately want to win tonight. And desperation is not the best frame of mind in which to approach a game. The mental state of players is as important as their physical fitness, perhaps more important. It’s not enough for players to know how they are supposed to play, they also have to believe they can do it. It must be so hard for our players to have belief in themselves after all our bad results.

I went to the question and answer session at St Andrew’s and listened to what Gianfranco Zola, Pierluigi Casiraghi and Gabriele Cioffi had to say. They seemed very likeable and I want to believe that they can find a way to win some games. Panos Pavlakis and Edward Zheng were there to show that Zola has the support of the directors. There was a lot of togetherness on display as everyone posed for photos with broad smiles on their faces. That was nice to see and it would be even nicer if the players display togetherness on the pitch this evening and come off at the end with smiles on their faces. That is what I’m hoping for but it’s hard to believe it will happen.